Chapter 6
A loud yawn escaped out of the obese white cat as he came into the royal dining room.
"Oy! Chef! What's on the menu for breakfast?" Muta asked loudly, settling on a chair.
An annoyed orange cat with an apron and a white toque on, peered out of the kitchen doorway.
"We're having baked Carrots and Grass Pancakes, with a side of scrambled eggs and corn..." said the Chef.
"Perfect, I'll have eight servings of that..." said Muta nonchalantly.
The Chef grumbled and grudgingly stomped into the kitchen.
Muta sighed and leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes in sheer contentment.
"My, my...you sure asked for a lot to eat, did you?"
Muta's eyes snapped open and turned to the direction of the voice to see a maid with reddish orange fur, who was standing behind him with a cheeky smile on her face, pushing a cart of kitchenware.
"Yeah... I wanted more than one plate of food... what's it to you?!" Muta glared at the maid.
The maid's ears drooped in embarrassment and giggled softly.
"Oh, it's nothing to me, I just made a simple comment..." she said shrugging.
Muta snorted and turned away from the maid and closed his eyes again and returned his arms behind his head.
The maid walked to the table and began setting up the cups, forks, spoons, and napkins, silently.
After a few moments, the maid turned to Muta and gave him a soft smile.
"Quick question, but are you one of the members from the Cat Bureau?" she said.
"That's me..." said Muta with his eyes still closed.
She stared at Muta for a few moments and sighed.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to offend you about the amount of food you getting, I just wanted to start a conversation with you." she said.
Muta's ear twitched and he opened one eye to focus on the maid.
"Why would you want to do that?" questioned Muta raising an unnoticeable eyebrow.
Bashfully the maid looked down to the floor and played with her apron.
"Well... it's just... you see... I'm kind of... a... fan... of yours..." the maid said very softly.
Both of Muta's eyes opened.
"A fan of mine?"
The maid nodded.
"I've heard of the many cases you and the rest of the bureau have dealt with and I admire all the things you have done for others..."
"Eh...? It's nothing much..." said Muta looking away.
"I was also there when you single handedly fought off those guards, when you were trying to help your friend escape from an unwanted marriage. You were very cool! I was very impressed!" she said becoming a little more confident speaking to Muta.
Muta blinked at her and a smirk appeared on his face.
"Oh you were, were you?" he said smirking with his eyes closed.
"Oh I was! But I was even more dazzled when everyone found out you were that notorious criminal, Renaldo Moon!" said the maid with her tail swishing to and fro in excitement.
Muta chuckled.
"Well... I am pretty cool..." Muta said with that smirk still on his face.
The maid giggled and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you are, and it takes a lot to impress me, Oh! I'm Momo by the way..." said the maid holding out her vermilion colored paw, for Muta to take.
"You know who I am already... but friends call me Muta..." Muta said taking Momo's paw and shaking it.
Momo smiled brightly at Muta and then held Muta's paw in both of hers.
"I'm happy to finally meet you, Muta. I just want you to know that I have the highest of respect for you..."
A blush formed on Muta's fur, which was very noticeable with his white fur.
He then turned away from Momo.
"Yeah... whatever..." he said with the blush still on his face.
Momo giggled having noticed the blush and released Muta's paw and returned to setting up the table.
Just as this happened, the servers came out of the kitchen, holding eight steaming plates of baked Carrot, Grass Pancakes and scrambled eggs with corn.
Muta's blush immediately disappeared and he began licking his lips.
"Yo! All of that food belongs to this cat!" Muta said pointing to himself anxiously.
The eight waiters holding the platters of food turned to Muta and studied him. They all 'sweat dropped' and placed all the plates of food on the table, in front of the large cat.
Momo struggled to contain her laughter.
Suddenly Lune came into the room.
"Morning everyone." he said.
"Morning" everyone replied back, except Muta, who had already begun chowing down on the food given to him.
Lune sat at the table and looked to one of the servers.
"I'd like to have some breakfast now." Lune said with a tired smile on his face.
"Yes, sire!" said the server and disappeared into the kitchen along with the other waiters.
Lune let out a tired sigh.
"Tired?" asked Momo.
"Yes... although I don't know why..." Lune said.
"Yeah... Yuki's been also been experiencing extreme drowsiness." said Momo.
"Probably just the wedding preparations or the fact the two of you are getting married that has you two tired lately." said Muta, who got into the conversation, while finishing his fifth plate of food.
"Yes... you are probably right..." said Lune.
"Don't push yourself so hard, I don't like to see you so worn out..." said Momo placing a paw on Lune's shoulder.
"Thank you for your concern Momo, I'll try to not push myself so hard..." Lune said with another tired smile.
Momo smiled in return and was about to say something else, until a very tired looking Yuki, came stumbling into the room.
"Good morning everyone..." she said holding a paw to her forehead, as if it hurt.
"Yuki!" Lune said running up to her and helping her steady herself.
"Whoa... Snowy doesn't look so hot..." said Muta looking up from his food, at Yuki and Lune.
"Ugh... I have a horrible headache..." moaned Yuki.
"Come Yuki, have a seat... Perhaps you're just hungry..." said Lune walking her to the table.
"Perhaps..." Yuki responded sitting next to Lune's seat.
"Chef!" Lune called out.
The Chef appeared from the kitchen and bowed.
"Yes your majesty?" he asked.
"Please make another plate of food for Yuki, and please hurry, she's not feeling well." said Lune.
"I will be back with it in seconds your majesty." said the Chef hurrying back into the kitchen.
Lune sat at his seat next to Yuki and placed his arm around to comfort and sooth her.
Momo watched the couple and sighed.
"Excuse me..."
With that, she left the room, without another word.
Two waiters came out of the kitchen, holding two platters of food and they placed the two plates in front of Yuki and Lune.
"You must eat Yuki..." Lune said.
Yuki nodded slowly and began to eat.
Then Haru came into the room with Baron at her side.
"Good morning everyone-" Haru began but stopped and looked at Yuki.
"Yuki? What's wrong?" Haru asked heading towards Yuki.
"She's having a bad headache." Lune said for Yuki.
Yuki sighed.
"I'm sorry everyone, I'm just out of it..." said Yuki. 'And completely confused over my dreams about Baron' Yuki thought sneaking a glance at Baron.
"Would you two like something to eat?" one of the servers said to Haru and Baron.
Haru stared at the strange food on Lune and Yuki's plate.
Not taking any chances, Haru shook her head.
"No I'm fine, but if you have a fruit like an apple or an orange, I'd be happy to have one." said Haru.
The waiter nodded at Haru then looked to Baron.
"What about you sir?"
"I'll just have cup of tea..." Baron said.
"And I'll have three more plates of food." said Muta.
The waiters groaned to themselves and left for the kitchen.
"Are you feeling a bit better, Yuki?" asked Lune, rubbing her back softly.
"Not really..." Yuki said.
"I still feel horrible..."
"Hmm... maybe we should get some medicine for you; I'll get someone to get it for you" said Lune.
Before Lune could call for anyone, Haru stopped him.
"It's alright Lune; I can go get the medicine!"
Everyone turned to Haru.
"But Haru... you don't know your way around the castle..." said Yuki.
"And you could get lost..." Muta said.
Haru waved a hand.
"I'll be fine. I have wanted to get to know this place better, without having someone assist me all the time. Don't worry… I could get the medicine and come right back with it fast." said Haru.
"O-okay..." Lune said with uncertainty.
"So where do I need to go?" asked Haru.
"Just take a left once you leave this room and go down the hall, to the exit. There you will be outside and you should see a small supply hut where we keep our medicinal herbs. And when you're inside, look in the area where our liquids are stored and you'll see a bottle called 'Meow'sa Pain.' (A/N: Ha ha... I know) That's what we are looking for."
Haru held back a giggle from the name of the medicine.
"But don't blame us if you get lost, Chicky." said Muta.
Haru stuck out her tongue at Muta, who glared at her.
"I won't." she said.
"Wait Haru, might I help you retrieve it?" asked Baron.
"No I'll be fine, besides you have hot tea coming, you wouldn't want it to sit there all cold waiting for you." said Haru.
"But Haru-" Baron tried to say.
"Don't worry Baron! I can do this alone." Haru said.
Before anyone else could protest, Haru left the room and was gone.
Muta sighed.
"That girl is as stubborn as an Ox..." Muta said shaking his head.
Yuki giggled.
"Yes, but you can't help but love her."
Baron looked to Yuki and frowned to himself.
'Yuki... what does she have to do with Louise?' Baron thought.
OOO
"And those guys thought I would get lost, Ha! I see the hut right there!" Haru said aloud.
Making her way to the supply hut, Haru saw the hut was shaped like a semicircle, and had a white foundation. The hut looked close to the houses the cats had outside the palace.
Haru then made it to the front of the hut, to see the doors were already open.
'I guess that's common here...' Haru thought.
Before Haru could make it inside the hut she saw someone already in it.
Inside the hut stood a reddish orange female cat, standing in the middle of the hut clutching something to her chest tightly.
Haru peeked in a little closer to see what was in her hand.
In the feline's hand was a container with the words "Rat Poisoning" across it.
Haru witnessed with pure horror as she watched the feline remove the cap off the container and slowly bring the opening to her mouth.